10 Captivating Facts about V-Day

Currently, everyone is celebrating the essence of love and gifting their loved ones with greeting cards, flowers, chocolates, and whatnot. The zeal of this love season can be clearly seen on the streets and shops that are decorated with flowers and hearts. But guys, do you know where it originated from? Who receives most of the cards and gifts? Why we present roses on this day? While we all are aware that Valentine’s is the most romantic day of the year, there is much more to know about this day. Here are some interesting facts about our most beloved day.

The origin of V-Day

It all started with Emperor Claudius II’s disagreement over Roman men getting married during wartime. At that time, Saint Valentine dared to go against his wishes and performed secret weddings. Isn’t that cool that the origin of this day full of love was founded on an act of rebellion?

Valentine’s maiden letter

Valentine’s very first love letter was written by the Duke of Orleans at the most unromantic place: prison. At the age of 21, he wrote a letter expressing his love to his second wife while he was imprisoned after the Battle of Agincourt. Unfortunately, he was not able to see his wife’s reaction upon receiving the letter and had to wait for more than two decades to see her.

Oops! Count the number of roses before you give

We all have been giving roses to our loved ones to cherish this V-day, but do you know the significance of the number of roses you are presenting your loved ones? Giving one rose symbolizes twisting romance and two means you want to apologize. A bouquet of 12 denotes a classy marriage proposal, a bunch of 36 declares true love to your lover, and if you are a fanatic about showing your love and your wallet is also friendly with the florist bill, then offering 101 roses is the best option.

Men spend more than women for gifts

An American study claims that men are always more likely to spend more on Valentine’s than women. On average, men spend about $168.74, which is almost double for women that stand at around $85.76. Moreover, 73% of flower buyers on Valentine’s are men. Doesn’t this put us all in the dilemma of whether women have higher expectations or men are afraid of not living up to their partners’ expectations?

An ancient way of declaring love

It’s an old tradition to express one’s unconditional love during this love season, but you all will be surprised to know the ways of declaring love in the ancient middle ages. Unmarried men used to pick a valentine (random picking of names from the bowl) and then unmarried women used to put men’s names in an urn. Then, for a whole week, they used to pin the name of their new love on their sleeve. This is where the term wearing your heart on your sleeve originated.

Single? Don’t worry, the next day is all yours

If you are single and you have been feeling all alone and depressed, then you must cheer up after reading this. Singles celebrate Singles Awareness Day (SAD) on February 15 as a complement to V-Day. All singles gather to celebrate their single status and show the world that you don’t need to be in a relationship to enjoy life.

A battle between the two

Now, this sounds interesting: a poll was conducted in which both sexes were asked to give an opinion on who should pay for a Valentine’s date. Guess what? Only 5% said women should pay, 33% of women said a man should pay, 31% voted to go Dutch, and 31% told that it should be alternate. When men were asked, 58% said men should pay, 17% said it should be split, 21% said it should be alternate, and only 4% said that women should pay.

Teachers top the chart of receiving the most cards

According to some sources, it was noticed that teachers are the ones who get the maximum V-cards during Valentine’s week. Their staff rooms are jumbled up with greetings during the week. Following them are children, mothers, wives and pets.

Cadbury initiated the chocolate gifting tradition

All of us are pretty much familiar with the chocolate box gifting tradition during V-week. But do you know where it originated? In 1968, Richard Cadbury’s immense love for his wife encouraged him to create a pack of chocolates. He painted and decorated that pack personally and from that day, all the chocoholics thank him for starting a new way of expressing love.

Juliet still receives love letters in this era

Juliet, a popular character from William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ still gets love letters on V-day. It has been reported that the city of Verona, Italy, the place where the play was set, is stacked every year with more than 1000 letters addressing Juliet. That sounds surprising for someone who is been dead for hundreds of years to still steal so many hearts.

Hope you all have enjoyed reading these interesting facts about Valentine’s Day. Cherish the month of love and have a lovely Valentine week and rocking Valentine’s Day ahead.

I am a graduate student pursuing Software Engineering at Western University. I am someone who loves spreading smiles and positivity wherever I go because I believe that life should not be lived on thoughts and fears, it should be lived freely on moments and cheers. My philosophy of life is "Conquer the mind, Conquer the world." Besides this, helping others in any way is something that helps me satisfy my soul. Writing gives meaning to my little imaginative world and whatever that catches my eyes, I love penning that down. Apart from it, I am a Green Panther, Bollywood lover, and Tech Freak.